


No Place Like Home

by DhaJetii



Category: Batman: Arkham (Video Games), Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Adopted Sibling Relationship, Alternate Universe, Bat Brothers, Batfamily, Bruce Wayne is a Good Parent, Crossover, Gen, Humor, Jason Todd has a potty mouth, Minor Original Character(s), Sibling Bonding, just give him time
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-19
Updated: 2019-02-20
Packaged: 2019-10-31 19:46:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 11,207
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17855816
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DhaJetii/pseuds/DhaJetii
Summary: The Joker wants a new Batman to play with. He finds a way into an alternate universe but instead of finding Batman he runs into Red Hood and Nightwing. A fight ensues and Joker retreats to his universe, accidentally dragging Red Hood and Nightwing with him. Stuck in a strange yet familiar world, Red Hood and Nightwing stumble into a Batman they don't know.In the Young Justice timeline, this story takes place a few months before Season 3, so there aren't any spoilers for it. But there is a Spoiler (haha puns). For the Arkham games it takes place about a month after the end of Arkham Knight and contains major spoilers for how it ends, and right at the end of the Red Hood DLC.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Prologue is from Joker's POV but the rest of the story is from Jason Todd's POV.
> 
> I hate coming up with titles. It is the hardest thing for me to do.
> 
> ___ Fun Fact:  
> This was originally supposed to be a JayDick thing, but then brotherly banter happened and I just couldn't turn it into flirting (but I guess if you want to look at it that way you could still call it flirting??). So instead we just get some Arkhamverse-Batfamily. 
> 
> _Extra babble you really don't need to read but I have to say anyway:  
> I absolutely love the Arkham video games and I have played through Arkham Knight in its entirety four times, no lie. It was the first time I was truly interested in Jason Todd and the subsequent research of his character in general and I realized I was in love. So. That's a thing. TO THE STORY!

The Joker is laying flat on his back on the wooden floor of an apartment building that creaks and groans every time someone breaths. Someone on the floor below them is throwing a party and muffled music vibrates the floor. His arms and legs are spread out as he finds patterns and pictures in the dark brown water stains on the ceiling. If he tilts his head one way that one over there looks like an elephant but tilt the other way it looks like a lion.

 

"I'm bored." The clown announces.

 

"Tell me you didn't call me here just to tell me that." The young looking Lord of Chaos, Klarion, says from where he is standing in the doorway with his arms crossed. Joker raises his head from the floor to grin at the witch boy.

 

"Yes and no."

 

"That's too bad. I'm gone." Klarion makes a shooing motion with his hands. "I have work to do."

 

"Now, now, hold on." Joker pushes himself up into a sitting position. "I have a proposition for you. One you may enjoy just as much I." Joker says and Klarion sighs. The Lord of Chaos knows the clown won't be satisfied until he has at least voiced his idea so he gestures for Joker to continue. "I want to steal a Batman from another universe."

 

Klarion waits for Joker to further explain himself. When he doesn't Klarion rolls his eyes and says: "You want to steal a Batman from another universe?" Maybe if he repeated Joker's words the clown would realize how ridiculous they sounded.

 

"I never thought I would say this but," Joker pauses to heave a heavy dramatic sigh and flop back onto the ground "I'm bored with Batman! We have done the same stuff over and over for what feels like 80 years! I need something new to spice up our loathing!"

 

"Why did you come to me with this?" Klarion reaches a hand up to his shoulder where Teekl is resting. The familiar purrs as he scratches her under the chin. Klarion isn't willing to admit he sees the potential chaos in Joker's idea.

 

"A," Joker raises one hand with his index finger pointing up at the ceiling "You still owe me for that Injustice League stuff 6 or 7 years ago." He raises a second finger. "B, I know your magic can break inter-dimensional barriers so it stands to reason you can teleport me to an alternate universe." He raises a third finger. "C, I know you enjoy chaos just as much as I do, and this adventure will be buckets of fun."

 

"Hmm." Klarion hums as he thinks. "What do you think, Teekl?" He glances sideways at his cat who jumps off his shoulder to the ground. The cat meows then begins to groom herself. Klarion nods as if she had made a valid point. "Alright."

 

"Alright?" Joker jumps up into a standing position. "You'll do it?"

 

"Let's steal a Batman." Klarion's eyes light up with excitement and the Clown Prince of Crime grins. Klarion holds up a hand to pause whatever Joker is about to say next. "I don't _really_ have control over what universe we end up in. I need to do some research so we can find our way back to this reality."

 

"Any world with a Bat will do. It's no skin off my nose if we get stuck there either. Besides, not knowing which world we end up in will be just another drop of fun in the already full bucket!" Joker says with  a shrug.

 

"I like this world!" Klarion pouts with a stomp of his foot. "I won't go until I know I can come back." Teekl mews in agreement.

 

"Ffffiiiiiiine!" Joker rolls his eyes. "Go read your mystic magic tomes and when you're ready let me know."

"Won't take me long. Couple days at most." Klarion says then snaps his fingers and a portal opens above the witch boy. Teekle pounces into his waiting arms then the portal slides down over the Lord of Chaos and they were gone.

 

"Hoo-Hoo," Joker rubs his hands together "this is going to be fun! Ha-ha-ha-ha." The Clown's laugh echoes in the empty apartment.


	2. Chapter 2

"Say hi to Joker for me." Red Hood says after he kicks Black Mask out of a fourth-story window. The vigilante finds a small amount of pleasure in the gangster's screams as he falls to his death. 'Hood walks over to the stack of cash Black Mask's goons were counting on the table before he crashed the party.

"Wouldn't wanna be wasteful." he says quietly to himself as he pops open one of the briefcases with cash in it. Red Hood looks around the room for anything to help him carry all of this cash piled onto the large table. There isn't enough briefcases to hold it all and even if there was, he wouldn't be able to carry all the cases himself.

"Why send a messenger when you can say 'Hi' yourself?" A sickeningly familiar voice reaches the ex-Robin's ears and he freezes. Jason Todd thinks he is unstable on a good day but he never thought he was so crazy that he'd vividly hallucinate a dead man's voice. Red Hood looks around the room to see if the hallucination had a visual component or if it's just auditory. Ice floods his veins when he sees the tall and skinny figure standing in the doorway on the other side of the room.

"Cat got your tongue?" The figure steps farther into the room and into the moonlight shining in from the window. Cheap purple suit, pale skin, bright red lips, green hair, and a crowbar in his hands. Jason decides to ignore the hallucination even though all his instincts are telling him to unload an ammo clip directly into the clown's face.

"Joker," a childish male voice whines from the hallway outside and a male teen carrying a tabby cat walks into the room "we came here for Batman. This guy clearly isn't him." This boy is skinny and wears a black suit, his black hair slicked back and up at the ends to give the illusion he has devil horns.

Alarm bells start to go off in Jason's head. Hallucinating the Joker doesn't surprise him. Unsettles him and makes him sick, but doesn't surprise him. But who the hell was this other person supposed to be? Something is wrong here. Maybe it is the part of him that refuses to admit he could honestly be this level of crazy or maybe it is all the training and experience drilled into him by Batman. Time to test the truth of this hallucination.

Red Hood snaps into action and throws the closest thing to him at the Joker with all his strength, which is the open briefcase full of money. Dollar bills flutter in the air as 'Hood uses the table in front of him as a springboard to flip into the air and aim a kick at the clown's face.

Joker catches the brief case with an "oof" and uses it to block the vigilante's kick. "I guess this means we aren't friends."

Jason felt the solid impact of his kick shoot up his legs and he landed on the ground on his back but used his momentum to turn it into a backwards roll. He came out of the roll and onto his feet in one fluid movement. He draws one of his pistols from its holster at his thigh, chambers a round, and aims at the clown. The Joker is dead. The Joker was dead. He was hiding in the shadows of the balcony at the Monarch Theater, almost a full year ago now, as he watched Batman fight Clayface then Joker. Jason Todd had watched the Joker die. He had looked into it himself to confirm. Watched the footage of the clown's body being rolled into the incinerator on repeat. He had tested the ashes.

"How are you still alive?!" Jason roars.

"I died? Shame." Joker says as drops the empty briefcase to the ground. "At least tell me Batsy is still kicking. I did come all this way just for him."

"Teekl, take care of this nuisance, please." The boy says and Jason looks over when he hears the animalistic growling. A creature that looks like a sabertooth is standing in front of the boy with its muscles constricted ready to pounce. Jason rolls out of the way just in time.

"Jason," Oracle's angry voice is coming through Red Hood's com-link in his helmet "what the hell are you doing? Killing Black Mask wasn't necessary."

Red Hood activates his com-link to run continuously rather than his usual push-to-talk. He flips over the table full of money to slow the giant cat swinging a massive paw at him.

"Answer me, you slimy piece of filth!" Jason says angrily as he fires his dual hand guns at the tiger. "How the fuck are you alive?" The tiger yowls in pain as a couple of the bullets bite into its shoulder.

"What are you-" Oracle's statement abruptly stops when Joker's crazy laughter erupts from his mouth and is picked up by Red Hood's mic. "Oh my god." Her tone quickly shifts from angry to terrified.

"I like this Gotham already!" Joker says. "I don't have another me to compete with."

"Teekl! You stupid cat." The boy's face contorts into sharp angles and slants as he grimaces in pain. He points a hand at Red Hood and a blast of red magic shoots out of his palm and arcs towards the vigilante who dives to the side to dodge it.

"Nightwing is already near your location and will be there in a couple minutes. Robin is on his way from the Clocktower." Oracle says over the com-link.

"I don't need their fucking help to take this clown down!" Red Hood yells into his com-link, not caring if the creeps hear his one-sided conversation, then he shuts it off. A part of him knows he is in way over his head with that weird kid blasting magic at him. He just has to survive long enough until his reinforcements show up.

"Ooh, sounds like you have friends coming. Is one of them Batman?" Joker says with a grin as he swings his crowbar at Red Hood.

The vigilante blocks the swing with his forearms, armor plating on his arms under his leather jacket absorbing most of the force. The sabertooth swings at Jason's exposed back and he drops to the ground, rolling to the side and almost collides with the wall. He can't keep doing this here, the room is far too small for a fight like this. He glances at the broken window he had just kicked Black Mask out of a little while ago. He could dive out of the window and use his grapple to zip to the roof. He just has to get to the window behind the giant viscous cat first.

'Hood shoots his guns at the witch boy when he sees him raising his hands to blast more magic. The boy throws up a shield. 'Hood holsters one of his pistols and grabs a flashbang grenade from his belt. He tosses it at the big cat's feet. When the blast goes off his helmet shields his eyes from the bright flash and while everyone else in the room, cat included, is stunned he makes his move. He runs past the cat and dives out the window. He twists in mid-air and shoots his grapple at the roof of the building he just dove out of.

After he climbs onto the flat roof he looks over and sees Nightwing standing by the locked roof-access door, applying explosive gel to it. Red Hood takes this moment to reload all his weapons.

"Hi." Nightwing says with a smile as he puts the explosive gel applicator back onto his utility belt. "Didn't feel like picking the lock."

"Joker and some witch boy with real magic and a giant sabertooth are about two floors beneath us." Red Hood says as he reloads. "And you casually greet me as if I just swung by the manor."

"How would you know? You never swung by the manor. Maybe I would have greeted you differently there."

"They're looking for Batman." Red Hood says and ignores Nightwing's comment.

"That doesn't make sense, Batman is dead." Nightwing says. "Also, turn your communicator back on. You really hurt Babs' feelings."

"-impossible. We must have missed someone infected." Timothy Drake's voice is saying when Jason turns his comms back on. That's when Jason remembers Joker's infected blood the clown snuck into hospitals across Gotham before he died. He had forgotten about how the infected blood turned people crazy, turned people into the Joker. He feels something tight in his chest unravel and he takes a deep breath in. The maniac currently in the building underneath Jason's boots isn't the same maniac that tortured him for nearly two years.

"Did they say why they're looking for B?" Nightwing asks and it snaps Jason's focus back to the rooftop and away from a potentially destructive train of thought.

"One of them definitely said they came here for Batman, but they didn't go into a villainous monologue describing their evil plan." Red Hood informs and holsters his pistols.

"They? How many are there? I thought it was just someone who looks like Joker." Robin asks over the comm.

"He's with some punk in a black suit who uses magic to some extent. I don't know the full range of his abilities. There's also a freaky sabertooth."

"Did you catch any names?" Oracle asks and Jason tries to remember.

"I think the cat's name is Teekl?"

"Well, if they're lookin' for B they're gonna be disappointed." Nightwing says as he crosses his arms with a scowl. Jason senses a story behind that bitter tone but now is not the time to pry at it.

"I'm not worried about them poking around looking for Batman. I'm worried about this Joker clone." Red Hood says and turns towards the door that leads into the building. He's thinking about going back in there. The explosive gel Nightwing was applying earlier would get them past the lock on the door. That's when Jason hears the shattering of glass and peaks over the edge of the roof. The witch boy, tabby cat on his shoulder, is standing on a flat oval constructed of his magic hovering outside a shattered window as the Joker steps onto the magic.

"I'm almost there." Robin says over the comm-link. "Two minutes out."

The villains below them didn't see Red Hood peeking over the edge of the roof. They saw him when they flew up and over the roof.

"We are terribly lost. This city isn't the one we are familiar with. Could you direct me toward the Batsignal?" Joker says from where he stands on the hovering platform of magic. "Oh! I recognize you!" Joker points at Nightwing. "You're the Night-birdie from Bludhaven!"

"You!" Klarion and his cat growl as they glare at Nightwing.

"Friend of yours?" Red Hood asks as he removes both of his pistols from their holsters.

"Nope." Nightwing says and grabs his escrima sticks and steps into a fighting stance.

"Good." Red Hood aims at the witch boy and Joker then opens fire. His bullets shatter against a magic shield. The freaky cat pounces to the rooftop, transforming into a sabertooth tiger as it descends. The witch boy opens his mouth and his fiery red magic spews out toward Nightwing. Red Hood shoots at the magic cat while Nightwing flips out of the way of the fire. Now that the fight was on the wide open rooftop and not the cramped room from before, the giant cat is a lot faster than 'Hood accounted for. The sabertooth pounces then 'Hood is flat on his back and pinned to the ground with the air knocked out of his lungs. He struggles against the beast, just barely holding it back from digging its fangs into his neck. Not much he can do about its claws though.

Red Hood hears a familiar sharp fluttering of cloth rapidly flapping in the wind. There's a solid thud then the heavy, growly, ferocious mass pinning him to the ground is gone. The vigilante looks over to see Robin somehow ended up on the giant cat's back with it locked in a choke hold using his bo staff. Red Hood forces himself to stand and gasp air back into his lungs. Breathing hurts. Moving hurts. He's pretty sure a couple of his ribs are fractured from the force of the cat's impact. The light armor plating on his chest did alright protecting him from most of the claws with the exception of a couple that managed to pierce between the armor plating. The wounds hurt but Jason has felt way worse.

"Noo!" the witch boy screams "Get off of her!" he stops his magic attack on Nightwing and seemingly blinks out of existence for a second. The magic platform Joker and the witch boy were hovering on vanishes and they drop to the roof.

"Well there's half of the dynamic duo." Joker says with a grin as he twirls his crowbar with one hand.

"I don't know what hole you've been buried in," Nightwing says "but Batman died a month ago."

"That isn't funny." Joker says with a frown.

"Wasn't meant to be." Nightwing shrugs then he looks at Jason.

"Joker!" The witchboy howls as he blinks out of existence again. Robin is still grappling with the sabertooth.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Joker reaches a hand into the inside of his purple suit coat. He pulls out a revolver and aims at Robin. Robin isn't going to get out of the way in time. "I wonder which birdie you are," Joker is saying as he pulls the hammer back then squeezes the trigger. Bang. The bullet makes impact with a wet thunk. Robin's grip falters and he rolls off of the beast, instinctively grabbing his thigh as he stands.

"Teekl!" The witch boy calls out. "We're leaving."

"You're no fun, Klarion!" Joker scowls.

"You heard him," Klarion gestures to Nightwing "said the Batman is dead. We can try another universe." As he talks, Teekl shrinks to a tabby cat as she runs to her master. He snaps his fingers and a portal opens behind him.

"Tim!" Oracle shouts over their comm-link "Are you okay?"

"I'm okay." Robin says through gritted teeth.

Jason doesn't like the sound of what Klarion just said. Try another universe? They are obviously looking for Batman, said so more than once. He doesn't like the sound of that one bit. He glares at Joker. At the crowbar. This clown doesn't feel like some unfortunate civilian who got a dose of Joker's infected blood. Before he realizes what he's doing, he's firing his pistols but they click-click¬ with empty clips when he pulls the trigger. After tearing through Black Mask's goons just before all of this craziness started, he went into this fight dangerously low on ammo. The last of that ammo he has already used up. He only has one weapon left: himself. Ignoring the pain in his chest, Red Hood sprints across the rooftop. He tackles the Joker to the ground where they grapple dangerously close to the open portal.

"Ha-ha-ha" Joker is laughing "you want to come along? By all means!" The clown rolls them over and into the portal.

"Hood!" Nigthwing shouts as he sprints.

"No!" Klarion whines as Nightwing dives past him and into the portal. "No more hitchhikers!!" The witch boy grabs his cat then jumps into the portal that closes behind him.

"Tim, what just happened?" Oracle asks over the comm-link.

"They..." Robin hesitates "went through a portal?"

* * *

 

"No, no, no, no!" Klarion is whining and pushing Nightwing away "I said no hitchhikers!" The two stumble as they land in the middle of an empty and run-down apartment. "Teekl! Time to go! This isn't fun anymore!" The witch boy grabs his cat and darts away. He doesn't see the black-clad figure lurking in a shadow-filled corner of the dark room. "I don't owe you anything you freaky clown! Next time you need help with your schemes ask someone else!" He's already opening another portal to escape and stepping through it.

 

Red Hood has Joker pinned to the ground and is punching him in the face repeatedly, ignoring every twinge of painful protest coming from his cracked ribs and slashed flesh. The clown is laughing. Nightwing puts a hand on Red Hood's shoulder and he stills.

 

"We need answers." Nightwing says as he bends over and grabs the knife from Red Hood's belt. Nightwing stomps on one of Joker's wrists and the clown just laughs harder. Red Hood leans back with a grimace and lets Nightwing take over. He slowly stands and tries to control his breathing. Tackling someone while you had fractured ribs isn't a great feeling. That is to say it's very painful. As Nightwing puts the blade to Joker's throat, Red Hood looks around the room they're in.  Looks like an old run-down apartment with zero furniture. They're standing in what would probably be a living room with a small kitchen on one side of the room. He steps into a fighting stance when he spots the dark figure lurking in the corner.

 

"Nightwing." Red Hood says in warning then the figure steps just far enough out of the shadows to be recognizable.

 

"B-man!" Joker exclaims in excitement. "You'll never guess the adventure I just had."

 

"Batman?" Nightwing doesn't believe what he's seeing and neither does Red Hood.

 

"Save it." Batman growls at Joker. "Just answer his questions."

 

Red Hood stares at Batman. Nightwing is staring too. Batman looks at them both but his gaze on Nightwing lingers then turns into a glare that the boys have practice seeing through the cowl.

 

"As I was saying," Joker says "I went on an adventure! Didn't last very long, unfortunately. But I brought back some friends!" At Joker's words Nightwing shifts his attention back to the clown. He will deal with the sudden appearance of his supposedly dead mentor later. Red Hood keeps his eyes on Batman.

 

"How did you get injected with Joker's blood? We have a cure and can help you." Nightwing says and Red Hood notices the way Batman stiffens. He also sees a tiny movement from another corner of the room and peers into it. There's another person lurking there. The person is of a small build, that of a young teenage boy. "But we need to know how you got it so no one else gets hurt." The Joker laughs hysterically.

 

"No idea what you're talking about kiddo." Joker says "I'm not your Joker. Did yours infect others with his own blood? That's a thing I can do? Neat." A chill runs down Jason's spine. Thankfully, Joker's infected blood wasn't that simple.

Nightwing isn't sure what to say now but he is spared from figuring it out when Batman puts a hand on his shoulder and pulls him away. The Dark Knight reaches down and grabs Joker by the collar of his cheap suit and yanks him up. The other figure Jason spotted earlier slips out of the shadows to stab a needle into Joker's neck.

 

"What the fuck," Red Hood glares at the boy in a Robin costume as the Joker goes limp in Batman's grip.

 

"Did we get hit with fear toxin?" Nightwing mutters as he steps back to stand next to Red Hood.

 

"Someone needs to explain what's going on." Batman speaks in his usual gruff voice.

 

"Yeah, I agree!" Red Hood crosses his arms but immediately regrets the movement. "What the fuck, Bruce?"

 

"You fake your death, without telling us, then suddenly show up in full Batman gear with a new Robin at your side?!" Nightwing is almost yelling.

 

"I think I know what's going on here." Batman says.

 

"Great!" Red Hood says. "Can you enlighten the rest of the class, please?"

 

"For starters, we need to put Joker back in Arkham before he wakes up." Batman says. "I'll explain later but to put it simply: I'm not the Batman you know. This isn't the Robin you know. This isn't the world you know. You're in an alternate universe."

 

"What?" Nightwing says as both he and Red Hood stare at Batman. Batman nods at Robin who steps aside with a hand to his ear, muttering into his comm-link.

 

"I'll explain later-" Batman is saying when Nightwing interrupts him.

 

"No, Bruce, you'll explain right now." Nightwing is angry and Jason can't fully understand why. There's a lot of anger there that's directed personally at Bruce. Jason spent several years being angry at the man and he has several reasons to be. As far as Jason knew, Dick didn't have any reasons to hate Bruce. "Why the hell are you Batman again?" Nightwing demands and suddenly it clicks. The phantom bat there's been rumors about recently. Jason knew Bruce had faked his death after the incident with Scarecrow. Anyone who actually knew Bruce could tell you that. Doesn't mean that Bruce actually told any of them about his plans though. Jason knew Dick had been looking for Bruce, looking for a message, for any sign that he was somewhere Dick could reach. Jason is willing to bet he found nothing but silence and disappointment. Then the rumors of this ghostly Bat figure sprang up. Instinctively, Jason knew it was Bruce and Dick probably did too. It had to hurt to hear about Bruce showing up after looking for him and finding nothing. Bruce never learned how to fully trust anyone, not even his own family. Jason used to be angry at Bruce for abandoning him, and now Dick is in the same boat Jason was.

 

"For the last time, I am not your Bruce. This isn't your world." Batman slung an unconscious Joker over his shoulder. "Joker won't be out for long and I need to get him back to Arkham. I am not your Batman, but you can trust me." He makes intense eye contact with Nightwing and they stare at each other in silence for a bit.

 

"Fine." Nightwing finally says and crosses his arms. Batman grunts then turns and leaves the apartment.

 

"So," Jason takes his red helmet off, tired of the stuffy air, "alternate universe, huh? What does that mean exactly?" He has his usual black domino mask on under the helmet. The movement to raise his arms over his head agitates his fractured ribs and he cringes.

 

"Oh my god," Nightwing says as he faces Jason "I am so sorry. I totally forgot. How badly are you hurt?"

 

"Yeah, that freaky fuckin' cat jumped me. I think it cracked a rib or two. Maybe also pierced through my armor with those nasty claws. You were the one dodging magic fire, how are you?"

 

"Maybe?!" Nightwing reaches out and grabs the edge of Jason's leather jacket to pull it back. "Dammit, Hood." He says as he inspects his chest. "Do you have a first aid kit?" Nightwing asks the boy in a Robin costume without looking at him.

 

"Bring a first aid kit with you." Robin says into his comm-link and that's when Nightwing turns to glare at him. Of course Batman would send backup to babysit the strange newcomers from an alternate universe, whatever the hell that means. "I'm fine. It's for our..." Robin hesitates "guests?"

 

"How bad is it?" Nightwing asks softly.

 

"I've been through worse."

  
"That doesn't answer my question. At all." Nightwing pulls a small syringe out of his utility belt and holds it up for Jason to inspect. "For the pain." Jason nods his approval and points to a spot on his thigh where he could inject the syringe.

 

"My armor plates stopped the worst of the claws. My ribs hurt the most from when the fat fuck crushed me." Jason says. There's a _knock-knock_ on the door of the apartment they're in before the door opens. A girl dressed almost entirely in dark purple steps into the room, tiny chunks of blond hair poked out from under her purple hood.

 

"Orphan went back for the first aid kit. She'll be here in a minute." The new arrival says to the one dressed in a Robin costume.

 

"I'd be worried about Robin, not me," Jason says to Nightwing "he was the one who got shot by the clown. And you didn't answer my question."

 

"You said you were okay!" The girl in purple whirls to face Robin, hands on her hips.

 

"I'm fine!" Robin puts his hands up in surrender. "They're from an alternate universe. They're probably talking about their Robin."

 

"I'm fine, J-Bird. That freaky magic kid didn't hit me." He says to Jason then turns to the purple girl. "We were talking about our Robin. And we would very much  like to get back there as soon as possible." Nightwing says as he grabs Jason's helmet from his hands and sets it on the floor. He helps Jason shrug out of his leather jacket.

 

"So what the hell is an alternate universe?" Jason asks as he carefully removes his armor plating to inspect the damage dealt by the big cat.

 

"A totally different universe from yours. Well, not totally different. Some things are similar, obviously, you have a Batman, Robin, and Nightwing just like we do. But anything could be different, anything could be the same. It's a whole separate world." Robin explains and Jason freezes. These people are complete strangers. Just because that man sounded and moved like Bruce, and wore a similar suit, doesn't automatically make him the same person who trained him. Just because this kid is wearing a Robin costume, doesn't automatically make him someone Jason can trust. He got distracted by the familiarity of these total strangers and felt safe, like an idiot. He reattaches the armor plating he removed. He isn't bleeding out so his wound can wait. When he looks at Nightwing he looks tense, like he just came to same conclusion.

 

"You can trust us though," the girl in purple says "we're the good guys."

 

"Sure." Jason says with zero intentions of actually doing so.

 

"Bruce Wayne is Batman here too. I think our worlds are more similar than they are different." Robin says.

 

"Sure." Jason repeats in the same tone as before.

 

"Hey," a man says as he walked into the apartment "I heard-" The man stops, whole body tense, when he makes eye contact with Jason. The new arrival looks exactly like Dick Grayson in a Nightwing costume but the blue logo on his chest actually resembles a bird whereas the blue shape on the chest of the Nightwing standing next to him looks more like a V.

 

"This is unsettling." Dick says from next to Jason. This other Nightwing looks at him as if he hadn't noticed him until he spoke.

 

"Ditto." He finally says as he looks back to Jason. This world probably has a Jason Todd and this world's Dick Grayson recognized him behind the domino mask. Judging by the tense body language, whatever happened to his counterpart on this world wasn't good. Jason looks at the Dick Grayson of his world and makes a mental note to internally refer to him as Dick, then he looks at the Dick Grayson of this strange new world and decides to call him Nightwing.

 

"You recognize him?" The girl in purple says to this new Nightwing.

 

"Yeah, Spoiler, I do." Nightwing says as he finally closes the apartment door. "What's going on here?" He directs his question to Robin.

 

"We were looking into why Klarion and Joker were working together. The trail of evidence led us to this apartment. We were investigating it when a portal opened and Joker, Klarion, and those two, came through. They were clearly fighting each other." Robin speaks as if he is reporting to a senior officer. "Those two recognized Batman and called him Bruce. Said things that implied he faked his death as Batman and shouldn't be here. They also recognized the Robin suit but don't seem to recognize me. The current theory is that they're from an alternate universe." Dick tilts his head as he squints at this Robin. Jason rolls his eyes.

 

"You might want to amend your statement," Dick says, still squinting at Robin. "You seem eerily familiar but this lighting sucks so I can't be sure, plus," he turns to look at Jason "I think he's a few years younger, which is weird. But who does he remind you of?"

 

"Fuck if I know. I don't keep tabs on you guys." Jason scowls.

 

"Sure you don't, J-bird." Dick smirks at Jason then goes back to squinting at Robin. Dick's counterpart sucks in a sharp breath.

 

"You recognize him." The purple girl, Spoiler, says but she's looking at her Nightwing and not Dick squinting at Robin.

 

"I might have the same face but I'm not the same person." Jason says and gives this other Nightwing a pointed look.

 

"Imagine him bald." Dick suddenly says and Jason brings the palm of his hand to his forehead then slowly rubs it down his face. He gives Dick a look. "What?"

 

"Tim isn't bald you idiot. Shaves his hair super short on a regular basis and looks like a dork, sure, but he isn't bald." Jason says.

 

"I thought you didn't keep tabs on us."

 

"Knowing what his hair looks like isn't keeping tabs!"

 

"Mm-hmm." Dick just hums in fake agreement.

 

"Don't fuckin' _mm-hmm_ me." Jason scowls and when Dick just smirks at him, he adds: "You're a dick. Lower case D."

 

Robin hides a grin behind his hand and Spoiler snorts. The sound draws Jason's attention immediately and he mentally scolds himself for lowering his guard and feeling comfortable around these complete strangers yet again. The apartment door opens again and a girl with armor similar to Spoiler's but all black walks in.

 

"Fuck, how many of you need to baby sit us?" Jason demands. "We aren't gonna fight you!"

 

"It was just supposed to be those 3," Nightwing says as he points to the others "but I was in the neighborhood and was curious."

 

The new arrival is carrying a white box with a red cross on the cover. She looks at Jason and Dick then without a word tosses the box to Dick who easily catches it. Dick says thank you as he opens the first aid kit to thoroughly check the supplies. Just because he feels comfortable with these strangers doesn't mean he trusts them. Jason isn't about to take his armor and shirt off around these people to treat his wounds. The girl in black leans against the  wall opposite Jason and Dick then slides down it into a sitting position. She tugs on the end of Spoiler's cape then she does the same, sitting next to her.

 

"So what's everyone's name? I just realized we never did formal introductions." Dick says with a smile and Jason has to roll his eyes. "I'm Nightwing and this is Red Hood."

 

"I'm Robin."

"Spoiler."

"Orphan."

"I'm Nightwing too."

 

"Wait," Jason holds up a hand "I'm sorry, but your name is Orphan?" he points to the girl in all black and she nods in the affirmative. "Interesting name." He thinks the name is ridiculous. She nods in the affirmative again as if she can read his thoughts.

 

"Alright, 'Hood," Dick turns to Jason, "time to strip in front of your new friends. I gotta treat your kitty scratches."

 

"Fuck you, that beast was huge." Jason glares at Dick. He doesn't care how much of a non-threatening pose the strangers make in the corner of the room, he doesn't trust them. But he could also feel blood dripping down his naval under his armor and that probably means he's bleeding a lot more than he originally thought. He remembers the painkiller Dick gave him. It probably thinned his blood. He sighs as he starts to remove his armor plates and tries not to grimace as his ribs protest. Dick motions for Jason to sit on the ground and he reluctantly  does so. This time he can't help the grimace.

 

"Shit." Dick gasps as Jason carefully takes his shirt off to fully reveal the wound. Looks like three claws found the gaps between his armor plates. The gashes weren't very long but they were deeper than Jason originally thought. "You should have told me." Dick scolds as he grabs what he needs from the kit.

 

"I didn't realize it was this bad."

"Bullshit."

"I can do this myself."

 

"Just shut up and hold still." Dick says as he starts to clean the gashes. Jason has a lot of scars. Layers of scars both old and new but mostly old ones layered on top of older ones. A lot of them hadn't been stitched properly or hadn't been stitched at all. When Dick realizes they're most likely from Jason's two years trapped in Arkham as Joker's plaything, Jason could read the thought clearly on his face.

 

"It's okay." Jason says softly, whispering so only Dick could hear him. "I'm fine."

 

"It isn't okay." Dick speaks just as quietly. "I'm sorry I wasn't there."

 

"I don't blame you."

"Maybe you should."

"I don't." Jason avoids Dick's searching eyes by looking down at the gashes on his chest. This isn't a conversation he wants to have here and now. Honestly, it isn't a conversation he wants to have at all but he knows Dick is persistent. "I'm gonna need stitches, aren't I?" Jason asks and he hears Dick sigh in defeat. Conversation averted for another time.

 

"Yeah." Dick says then he finishes cleaning in silence. He stitches Jason up in silence. On the other side of the room he sees the four strangers huddled together talking quietly. Jason isn't that great at reading lips to begin with and the only lips he can see well enough to read are Robin's and he's doing more listening than talking. Robin is asking something about human trafficking, then says something about a league and a team. Jason thinks the one called Orphan is staring at him but he can't be certain because of her full face mask and hood. A sharp tug of his flesh makes him flinch and he glares at Dick who is stitching him up.

 

"Ow." Jason says plainly.

"Hold still. I'm almost done." Dick scolds as he works.

"Then hurry up."

"Stop fidgeting and I can."

"You're terrible at this. Let me do it."

"No! I'm the only one playing nurse right now. Not you."

 

"Kinky." Spoiler stage whispers from across the room. Dick turns his head to give her a wink and she giggles. Jason rolls his eyes for what feels like the hundredth time since they arrived.

 

"All done, street rat." Dick says with a grin when he finally finishes stitching Jason's wounds.

 

"Circus freak." Jason mutters as he reaches for his shirt.

 

"Lies!" Dick says with a snap of his fingers and points at Jason's chest. "I have to feel you up and figure out the extent of the damage on your ribs."

 

"No." Jason says with a snort and pushes Dick's hands away. "Keep your hands to yourself, Dickie."

 

"Oh," a mischievous glint ignites in Dick's eyes "I see. You're still ticklish, aren't ya?"

 

"No." Jason knows he answered too quickly. Dick leans in with his fingers spread wide and wiggling menacingly. Jason swats the hands away "Richard John Grayson, we are trapped in an alternate universe, can you at least pretend you're taking the situation seriously." Jason does his best to immolate Alfred's stern tone sans British accent. He knows immolating Bruce won't affect Dick in the slightest due to whatever anger he's harboring at the moment. Alfred on the other hand. "Not to mention the fact that I have a _chest injury_."

 

"Ffiiine." Dick whines then leans back to balance on the balls of his feet in a crouched position. He purses his lips into a pout. "You're no fun."

 

"I have three cracked ribs, been mauled by a pre-historic magic cat, and currently exist in a universe where Joker is alive." Jason glares. "Of course I'm no fun." Jason watches Dick wilt. His shoulders drop, he shifts his weight to sit on his rear, and he hugs his knees to his chest. Jason rolls his eyes. "You're so dramatic." Jason says then hears someone snicker from across the room.

 

Robin is smiling and giving Nightwing a look that says "I told you so" and Spoiler is snickering. Nightwing crosses his arms and half-turns away from them.

 

"If you are done patching up," Nightwing says to Jason and Dick "then we can relocate." He steps into the center of the room. "Red Hood, right? You're good to move? Just fractured ribs and lacerations on your chest?"

 

"Yeah." Jason says and slowly stands up from his sitting position on the floor, gritting his teeth as he does so. The life of vigilantes and heroes, where lacerations and fractured ribs was a normal injury to have. Oh, just your ribs are cracked and every movement of your chest hurts? Must be Tuesday. Sometimes Jason hates this life, then he remembers putting a stop to scum like Black Mask who sold weapons and drugs to anyone and everyone. When he thinks about the scum he stops all the effort and pain is worth it. Dick grabs Jason's red helmet from the floor and stands up to shove it onto the owner's head.

 

"Where are we taking them?" Spoiler asks.

 

"To the Hall of Justice. B called a few people there to help us figure out how to get these two back to their universe." Nightwing answers.

 

"How are we getting them to the Hall? They don't have Zeta clearance." Robin says.

 

"That's easy to change." Spoiler points out and Robin nods in agreement.

 

"M'gann is going to fly us there in the bioship." Nightwing answers. "B doesn't want us hacking the Justice League again."

 

"Hall of Justice? Bioship? Justice League?" Dick tilts his head as he stands. "This universe sounds interesting." He grins at Jason.

 

"Does your world not have a Justice League?" Spoiler asks.

 

"What in the hell is a Justice League?" Jason asks. He thinks the name is more ridiculous than having 'Orphan' as a codename.

 

"To put it simply, it's a group of heroes who work together to protect the universe." Spoiler says.

 

"It was founded by seven people: Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern, Aquaman, and Martian Manhunter. Today there's a lot more than seven members though."

 

"Wait," Dick holds up a hand to pause anyone else from speaking "Batman? B works on a team? With people? Teamwork? He communicates and plays nice?" Dick is shocked and there's that bitter tone Jason heard back in their world. Jason figures Dick is upset, to put it mildly, that Bruce hadn't kept him in the loop with the Knightfall Protocol fiasco. Dick has every right to be disappointed but he shouldn't be surprised.

 

"Most of the time, yes." Spoiler says with a shrug and Jason notices the look Robin and Nightwing share. "All four of us plus a couple others work with B on a regular, practically a full time job for a few." Dick hums at the thought. Jason is curious to know who works with Batman and if he would recognize any of the names from his world. He is about to ask a question about it but Nightwing speaks first:

 

"Tell us about your world, and why you think Joker and Klarion were there."

 

Jason is hesitant to give these strangers information. He makes eye contact with Dick who gives him a barely perceptible nod and he relents. Dick can't answer Nightwing's question about Joker and Klarion because he only fought them briefly.

 

"I think you don't really give a damn about what our world is like so I'll just focus on what you really want to know: I don't know why those creeps were there, not for sure. The clown said something about looking for Batman and I think the witch kid was just there to help him."

 

"Any idea why Joker was looking for your Batman?" Nightwing asks.

 

"Nope. But if your Joker is even half as demented as ours was, there could be any number of reasons."

 

"Was?" Robin notices the use of past tense.

 

"Was." Jason states, unwilling to elaborate.

 

There's a couple seconds of awkward silence.

 

"In our universe the Joker is dead. Died a few months ago." Dick finally says.

 

"Eleven months and 3 weeks." Jason clarifies.

 

"Earlier you said something about Joker infecting people with his blood." Robin pointedly looks at Dick. "Is that something we need to worry about?"

 

"Only if you have Venom, assuming it works the same with the same chemical makeup, and if Joker uses that on himself, and if the side effects of that are the same, then yeah maybe." Dick says.

 

"Well, if that's all." Spoiler says and Jason officially decides he likes her. He doesn't trust her, but she's his favorite of the four.

 

"The silver lining is that the Venom poisoned Joker and he eventually died." Jason says.

 

"So, the stuff was _venomous_." Spoiler says and Jason can hear the grin in her tone even if he can't see it behind her mask. Definitely his favorite of the four. Judging by the way Dick laughs at the pun, Jason suspects she is now his favorite as well.

 

"Funny." Orphan says and it's the first time Jason's heard her speak since she said her codename. Something about her tone was stilted and unfamiliar with speaking. Almost as if she barely understood English but Jason can sense she is following the conversation perfectly fine. Jason might have guessed she is deaf but then she wouldn't have been able to read Spoiler's lips to know she had made a joke.

 

"I wish our world had one of you. When I say crap like that, this one" Dick points to Jason "usually punches me and the others audibly roll their eyes at me."

 

"Audibly roll their eyes? As in they speak their action? Rolls eyes?" Robin asks and slightly tilts his head.

 

"He means they sigh in disappointment and he can sense the eye roll." Jason clarifies. "And it's because your puns are lame."

 

"Puns are inherently lame, that's half the appeal."Dick defends himself.

 

Nightwing opens the door and gestures for everyone to move. "Keep talking we just need to move the conversation to the roof. Megan should be here any minute." Despite Nightwing's suggestion the group does not continue talking. They climb the stairs to the roof in silence. No one speaks until they're all standing on the roof.

 

"Wait a minute," Dick says as he looks at the buildings around them, "this is Gotham, correct?" he asks. Jason looks around as well. The city around him is all at once familiar and strange. The air, the architecture, and the sounds are all the same. If his eyes were closed Jason would have said without a doubt he is standing in Gotham. The city looks strange when he actually looks at all the buildings. All the structures within his eyesight are old, run down, and whole. The Gotham Jason knew has visible scars from everything she has been through in the last two years alone. The flooded district was still being repaired, buildings blown to hell in Arkham City that are still under construction, stores vandalized and destroyed from riots during both Arkham City and the more recent event of Scarecrow's attack. Everywhere you looked in Gotham there was construction or something awaiting construction.

 

"Yeah, does your Gotham look different?" Nightwing asks.

 

"Yes and no." Jason mutters. He isn't sure where in the city he is. He knows Gotham inside and out, he always knows where he is even in the literal underground. He feels disoriented and he hates it. He glances at Dick and reads the discomfort in the set of his jaw. Looks like Dick feels the same way. Jason walks to the edge of the roof and peers at the street below, looking for a street sign, a landmark, anything to orient himself.

 

Jason feels an arm on his shoulder and he flinches away instinctively. He turns to see the girl dressed in all black, Orphan, standing behind him. She holds up her right hand level with her shoulder in the shape of a fist then she's signing letters in ASL at a moderate pace.

 

"S. Florence." Then she points to the street below them. Jason looks around himself with this new knowledge and suddenly he recognizes the building opposite them, granted it doesn't have a chunk blown out of it from Hugo Strange's Protocol Ten, but he finally see's it. The other buildings are all different however. But now he knows he's in the southwest somewhere of Miagani Island, assuming South Florence street of this Gotham is in the same location as his Gotham. The tension in his shoulders eases and he gives Orphan a small nod of thanks.

 

"Heads up." Nightwing says in warning and a few seconds later a spaceship slowly uncloaks itself and hovers above everyone's heads. Jason seriously thinks he got hit with some hallucinogen in the antiseptic Dick used to clean his wounds. There isn't enough room on the rooftop for the ship to land but the bottom opens up and stretches down, forming a ramp that reaches the empty space in the middle of the roof.

 

"We definitely aren't in Kansas anymore, Toto." Dick says.


	3. Chapter 3

"All aboard." Nightwing announces and gestures to the ship hovering over them with a ramp extended down to the rooftop.

 

"No." Jason says immediately. "I'm not getting in an alien spacecraft straight out of a sci-fi movie." He looks at Dick whose eyes are wide behind his mask and his mouth is hanging open.

 

"J-bird," Dick says seriously, still gazing up at the ship. "We are _absolutely_ getting in an alien spacecraft straight out of a sci-fi movie."

 

"No." Jason says with a cross of his arms.

 

Nightwing looks like he's about to say something but Dick suddenly rushing over to Jason makes him stop short. Dick grabs one of Jason's hands with both of his own and holds it to his chest. He stares into Jason's eyes.

 

"Jay, J-bird, my favorite little brother, I promise, cross my heart, swear by Alf," Dick's stare is intense as he speaks "I will absolutely leave you alone on this rooftop stranded in another universe if it means I can ride in an alien spaceship. I will not hesitate."

 

"I fucking hate you. You're also a damn liar, I am not your favorite." Jason growls as he pushes Dick away with the hand his brother is holding. Then Jason turns on his heel and marches toward the ramp leading into the freaky spaceship. "You don't even know that it's alien."

 

"It's alien. Martian, to be precise." Robin says.

 

"Shut the fuck up Replacement no one asked you." Jason snaps before he has a chance to think about it, once again he had allowed himself to be lulled into a false sense of familiarity with these strangers. He freezes the second the words are spoken.

 

"Replacement?" Robin echoes quietly as he scowls at Jason.

 

"Apologize!" Dick whacks Jason on the back of the head.

"Fuck!" Jason rubs the spot as he glares at Dick.

"This is not our Little Bird. He doesn't know you're teasing." Dick says.

 

"Oh my god!" Robin suddenly exclaims as he looks between Jason and Nightwing. "That's why you recognized him!"

 

"Who is he?!" Spoiler demands.

 

"I'm not him!" Jason exclaims, glaring at everyone.

 

"Well who do you look like? Who's your doppelganger?" Spoiler directs her question at Jason.

 

"Fuck it." Jason reaches up and removes his red helmet followed by the domino mask. "I'm Jason Todd. Once upon a time, I was Robin." The _J_ shaped scar branded onto his cheek tingles and he resists the urge to rub at it. He feels like they're all staring at it.

 

"Oh." Spoiler says and Jason senses she at least recognizes the name. He can't read Orphan's expression behind the mask either but sees the way she stiffens. Nightwing looks like his puppy just died, shoulders sagging as he sighs and Jason thinks maybe relieved everyone else knows. Robin looks constipated and Jason doesn't want to decipher the emotions hidden in the firm line of his mouth or the tension in his jaw. He isn't close to the Tim Drake from his world and doesn't want to be. He tolerates Timothy because he loves Barbara like a sister and for some godforsaken reason she chose to marry Timothy.

 

"With that out of the way." Jason says and returns his mask and helmet to his face, tired of everyone staring. "Can we go please?"

 

"Yeah." Nightwing agrees and Robin is the first to walk up the ramp followed closely by Orphan then Spoiler. Nightwing is clearly waiting for Jason and Dick to go before him. Jason braces himself, fully prepared to see a host of weird alien anything onboard this "bioship".

 

Jason walks up the ramp and into what has to be the bridge of what could be a ship from any space sci-fi but without all the confusing buttons and switches and lights. The other bat-kids from before are sitting in chairs around the space and sitting in a chair at what he assumes is the controls, is a humanoid female with no hair, stark white skin, and a protruding brow. He tries not to stare.

 

"Hello." The alien says and Jason realizes he failed in his endeavor to not stare. "I'm M'gann M'orzz." Jason's brain has no idea what to do with this information. "No Martians where you're from?"

 

"Wow!" Dick says from behind Jason, "Martian? Like, from Mars?" Dick's eyes are wide behind his mask. "The only alien we've ever heard of is that one guy from Metropolis, what's his name."

 

"Superman?" The Martian suggests.

 

"Yes!" Dick says with a snap of his fingers and points at her. "That's the one. Never met him but I don't think he's a Martian."

 

"He's Kryptonian." Jason says and looks around the ship.  The other Bats are already in seats and strapped in. Jason doesn't see any vacant seats and he doesn't know what to do besides stand awkwardly in the middle of the chamber. He misses the inquisitive look Dick gives him.

 

"Have a seat." Nightwing says and gestures to an empty space in the front middle of the bridge. Before Jason can form a snarky remark about the lack of seats to take, three chairs _grow out of the ship's floor_. When asked if he jumped at the sight he would adamantly deny the accusation while Dick laughed and swear he absolutely jumped. Dick flings himself into one of the empty seats with a childish grin. Jason cautiously sits then belts _grow out of the chair_ and form an X across his chest. Nightwing sits in the chair to Jason's left.

 

"Activating camouflage mode." The Martian announces and Jason doesn't sense any change in the ship. "Setting course for the Hall of Justice." Jason feels the ship rise.

 

"What is this tech?" Dick asks, poking the armrest of his own chair.

 

"It's a Martian bioship." The alien girl says. "A living organism that can shapeshift like Martians."

 

"You're a shapeshifter?!" Dick twists in his seat to look back at the Martian and Jason tries to remember her name.

 

"Yes. All Martians are capable of shapeshifting, telekinesis, and telepathy." M'gann says. Jason and Dick stiffen simultaneously. "Don't worry, I'm not reading your minds. I promise I won't unless you turn out to be a threat." She speaks with a pleasant smile that contradicts the veiled threat in her words. "We will arrive at the Hall of Justice in twenty minutes." She announces.

 

"Twenty minutes? Where is this place?" Dick asks out of curiosity.

 

"Washington DC." Nightwing answers and Jason looks at him incredulously.

 

"Twenty minutes to get all the way down to DC? In Maryland? Gotham is still in Connecticut right?" Dick asks and Jason looks forward, out the windows and to the land zipping past them in a blur. He hears sounds that resemble words, someone answering Dick's question, but Jason can't process the sounds due to the dull ringing in his ears. He feels lightheaded and doesn't feel the g-forces that should be pressing him back into his seat if they really are moving as fast as it looks like they are. His stomach churns. Spaceships are weird and Jason wants off as soon as possible.

 

"How exactly do you plan to get us home?" Jason asks suddenly, not caring if he interrupted their conversation or not and trying to ignore the blurred motion outside the window in front of him. If he stares at it for much longer he's pretty sure the building nausea will hit a tipping point. He watches Nightwing as he answers.

 

"We've actually never experienced anything like this before, but the science is there. Just a matter of asking the right people and giving them the proper resources." Nightwing pauses before continuing. "I'm not sure how exactly they will send you home, but I'm sure we'll figure it out."

 

"I've been doing some reading," Robin says and Jason turns to see him staring at a tablet in his hands "and it looks like the current theory is that there are actually an infinite number of alternate realities. I would be less concerned about being able to open a door to another world and more concerned about finding the right door."

 

"Well that's very reassuring, thanks." Dick says and Jason eases into his chair and closes his eyes. He doesn't want to think about home, so of course that's exactly where his brain goes. The only people who would notice if Jason went missing are Tim, Barbara, and Dick. He wonders if Bruce would notice or is he too busy doing whatever the hell he's doing with this whole Ghost-Bat crap. Jason of a few weeks ago would have immediately said Bruce wouldn't notice or if he did, wouldn't care. But that was before the phone call he got from Bruce himself. He had called Jason about a week after he faked his death. To apologize and tell Jason how to get into contact with him in the event of an emergency. Bruce had offered him sanctuary. Jason still questions if the conversation was real or not. A hand on his arm jolts his focus back to the bioship.

 

"Thought maybe you fell asleep." Dick says when Jason looks at him. Jason remembers the bitter anger he heard in Dick's voice every time he talks about Bruce. He realizes Bruce never reached out to Dick like he had with Jason. He decides he's definitely calling Bruce when they get home. Jason promised Bruce he wouldn't tell the others about him being alive, even if they knew it was a sham. Bruce had said he wanted them to move on and live their lives outside of him, a sentiment Jason couldn't argue with. However, after today he is going to tear into Bruce for leaving Dick in the dark. He is also going to demand to see Alfred, who of course, willingly and loyally followed Bruce anywhere.

 

"Earth to Jason," Dick reaches up and knocks twice on his helmet "you in there?"

 

"Unfortunately." Jason says as he swats Dick's hand away.

 

"Approaching the Hall of Justice." M'gann proclaims, saving him from whatever Dick is about to say, and the belts around Jason's chest shrink away. This shapeshifting alien ship freaks him out and he's more than ready to get off of it. He looks out the window and see's them approaching what is obviously the front of the building with its arched front end engraved with massive letters "HALL OF JUSTICE" in white stone. They fly over the building and land on one of the building's sides and for a horrifying second Jason thinks they're going to collide with the building.

 

Jason stands when the others do. Nightwing and the alien make eye contact but say nothing, just stare at each other for a few seconds then he looks at Robin and does the same thing. Jason cannot interpret the looks they're giving each other. After a moment a hole stretches open in the middle of the room and Jason can see a metal door into the building. There's also some kind of haze in the air between the ship and the door.

 

"What is that?" Dick gestures toward it, having also seen what Jason did.

 

"The bioship is still in camouflage mode and I've sealed her to the door so anyone on the outside can't see us, that's the haze you see. We don't want people seeing two Nightwings walk into the building. Don't want to make our enemies suspicious of anything." She explains.

 

"Suspicious of what, exactly?" Jason asks.

 

"That there really are other universes out there. Other resources they can exploit, other villains they can ally with." M'gann says then steps out of the ship.

 

"Hate to burst your bubble but Joker and Klarion already know that." Jason points out as he follows the Martian into the building with the others trailing behind him. She leads them down a hallway, around a corner, and opens a door into a lab. Inside the room is a lot of equipment and a few workstations with various tools and half-built components. Against one of the walls two people are standing in front of a whiteboard with a whole lot of something Jason doesn't understand but can identify as advanced mathematics and science. A man in his sixties with olive skin and black-graying hair pushes the sleeves up on his dark blue hoodie then snatches the marker from the woman. She looks like a younger and female version of the man, probably in her thirties and the daughter of this other man. She turns to watch them enter the room while the man erases something on the white board.

 

"Hello." M'gann greets them as she enters the room. The woman pulls glasses out of a pocket of her lab coat and slips them on. The man stops what he's writing to turn around. "Dr. Vance," the woman raises her hand in a small wave when M'gann says her name "and Dr. Menzel," the man nods "meet our other-worldy guests Red Hood" she gestures to Jason who simply crosses his arms "and Nightwing." Dick smiles and waves.

 

"Wow," Dr. Vance says and looks back and forth at the two Nightwings "Fascinating. You two really are the same person?" She speaks with a British accent.

 

"Of course they aren't." The man, Dr. Menzel, speaks with a British accent as well. "They might have the same face under the mask and maybe even the same real name but they have led two separate and different lives. Granted there are some obvious similarities." He turns back to the whiteboard. "Batman said we are supposed to build a machine that can open a door into your reality so you may return home as soon as possible. I for one don't particularly care who you are. I'm here for my research."

 

"Please excuse my father. He's a bit ruffled from being woken up at 3am." Dr. Vance smiles. She turns quickly and snatches the marker from her father's hands then makes a tiny dash mark next to one of the numbers he just wrote "You forgot to negate it."

 

"Daughter! I was not done writing it out yet!"

 

"Just move over and let me do it. You're going about it the long way, it's so much quicker if we just-" She devolves into a lot of math lingo that Jason doesn't understand.

 

"These are the people that are supposed to get us home?" Dick leans over to whisper to M'gann.

 

"They're experts in their field." M'gann reassures.

 

"We think getting you back to your world is as simple as using a Motherbox through a relatively small machine of our own creation that we can hook up to a modified zeta-tube." Menzel informs after he finally let's his daughter take over the whiteboard.

 

"We have plenty of zeta-tubes and getting a motherbox we can use shouldn't be too hard. What do you need for the other component?"

 

"We already had a prototype in its early stages of development," Menzel gestures to the tables strewn with wires and mechanical parts "and this lab has some of the best equipment I've ever seen. We really only need a motherbox and a working zeta-tube. And then some time to slap it all together and test it."

 

"I'll get what you need. If you want, we can call in Adam Strange to assist you with modifying a zeta-tube." M'gann says and Menzel nods in agreement.

 

"Uhm," Dick speaks up "how much time? If I may ask."

 

"Depends on how much goes wrong. We've never built anything like this before and we've never worked with a motherbox before either. Could be a couple days or a couple weeks. But I assure you this project has our full focus." Vance says as she continues to work out equations on the whiteboard.

 

"Don't forget that motherboxes are living technology. Your machine won't hurt it?" M'gann asks.

 

"It shouldn't." Vance reassures.

 

"Good. Any questions?" M'gann asks and looks around the room at everyone.

 

"Uh, yeah, what are we supposed to do while we wait for this to finish? I don't know about wing-ding over here," he points at Dick "but I don't know anything about whatever is going on over there math and science wise. Can't help there."

 

"We were going to put you two up in a hotel here in D.C., ask that you pretend to be tourists, maybe even be real tourists while you're at it. Did you want to help somewhere?" M'gann says.

 

"Less want to help and more I hate having nothing to do." Jason is saying as Batman opens the door and walks into the room.

 

"Well you two can't go out in costume like that, especially Nightwing. You both have to be discreet." Nightwing says.

 

"He's right. Neither of you are official members of the Justice League or the Team so there's not a lot you can help with." M'gann says and nods in agreement. "Why not take advantage of the opportunity to relax? Go sightseeing." Jason's brain translates that to: they don't trust them and he doesn't blame them because why should they?

 

"No thanks." Jason says and hears Dick next to him sigh. Jason turns to him and demands: "What? I never said you couldn't be a tourist, just that I don't want to be."

 

"I have an idea." Batman says.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *whispering* what is Batman's idea? because i have none.


End file.
